Disclaimer: *Sigh* Why do those dumb lawyers make us poor writers make these stupid things? Bah! Anyway, I don't own Miles 'Tails' Prower or any of the StarFox team, although they are barely involved and Tails is almost my character (after I added a few touches to him).

Introduction: Well, my brain was kinda hyper after I played Sonic for about six hours straight at a friend's house AND watched 'We Were Soldiers' the other night, so I just decided to write something about our overshadowed Tails. Poor little guy; he doesn't get much attention. This is centered a bit more on StarFox than it is Sonic, so I'll just file it under StarFox. As always with my stories, this has no reference whatsoever to my other fictions. This is based on an alternate universe setting. Oh, don't worry, you don't have to know anything about Tails. Frankly, I don't know anything about him either. Ack, must I say more? He didn't meet anyone in the Sonic series, and he is a loner, a bit. This is set when Tails was thirteen and a war is brewing. Somehow, he is dragged in with all the commotion going on, and in the battlefield, he meets with an escapee, who is kinda hot...



"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

"Venom has attacked, Miles, and they're invading Corneria! I suggest that you find the nearest forested area and hide," the soldier said.

"Where are they?" Tails looked out the window frantically.

"They are very close to Victorian Bay. Our soldiers can't reach there in time, so just run! Most of the citizens have been warned, and I don't know why you're still here, kid. You're trained, right?"

"If you mean boot camp, no. If you mean living with a colonel, yes, and I tell ya, that's better training."

"Well, I suggest you get to the plateau and wait for the army. You know the place, right? We'll need a good place to camp, so I want you to be at the plateau in thirty minutes, if you can manage it. Give us a few pointers, and I'll have a jet carry you and a few survivors away. Now, MOVE!"

Tails slammed the phone back without another word. Alex told him a lot about Venom and its vengeful leader, Andross. They had been gathering laser weapons and bombs for a long time now, and Alex was always afraid that they would attack.

Tails knew exactly what he was doing. He gathered a blanket, Alex's cell phone that he always forgot to bring to work, some canned food, a whistle, and Alex's laser pistol that was hid away in a closet and shoved them all into his pack. Slinging it over his shoulder, Tails barged out of the front door and onto the balcony and stairs.

**

The streets were deserted as Tails flew around the place; his two tails spinning around like a helicopter's blades. Nearly all the houses were empty, and the ones that weren't had weapons ready inside. Tails headed for the tropic forest east of the city, following the south coast of the sea. Soon after he touched down on the sand of the beaches, Tails heard jets, and a lot of them.

Tails ducked into the shelter of the trees and watched as jets and carrier planes flew from the sea. They all were painted green and yellow, signaling Venom. Tails crashed through the trees, occasionally stumbling across a frightened family huddled close together. Those poor people; Venom just attacked because a ruthless leader imprisoned the soldiers of Venom and poisoned their minds that all the planets were evil, except for Venom. Andross was an insane fool.

Tails sniffed the air with his sharp snout and detected smoke fumes. Climbing quickly on top of a tree, the fox saw distant buildings of the city being blown up and shot at by the jets. The carriers dropped foot soldiers and flew back immediately. Tails approximated six thousand jets and about ten thousand ground soldiers. According to a count by the late Alex Brophy, the Cornerian Army had only a tenth of that. Being a little tall for his age, Tails had to duck under young pineapple trees as he ran north, to where the higher plateau was.

A little while after he left his lookout perch on the big oak tree, Tails found Mr. Stripe and his walking stick waddling as fast as he could east.

"Mr. Stripe!" Tails cried, running towards the panting old badger, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine, my boy, just a bit tired," Mr. Stripe coughed, "You better move, Tails. They're coming this way." With a wave of good luck, Mr. Stripe stumbled off through the trees. Looking at his watch compass, Tails noted that he was going north, a bit to the east. Perfect direction if he wanted to wait for the Cornerian Army to come from the north.

Tails loved to hike around the forest, without a huge Venomian army trying to fish out those who escaped from their grasp, that is. The forest wasn't very dense, but low bushes and tropic trees with vines made running hard, so Tails just crouched low and walked as fast as he could. He could still hear distant explosions and the zap of a jet's laser guns. Tails started to hear machine guns, hinting that Venomian ground squadrons were nearby. Glancing at his watch again, he noticed the Cornerian Army was about to arrive in ten minutes, but he was already climbing the hill.

"Hey, you!" A loud voice called. Tails looked down from his point halfway up the plateau. A pair of soldiers clad in yellowish green pointed at him. Panicking, Tails whipped out his pistol and snapped away the safety. He fired a few blind shots behind him as he ran with renewed energy.

'Oh, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die,' Tails repeated to himself. Alex's pistol was light and held thirty rounds of lasers, so Tails kept throwing shots at the two Venomian. They shot back, but their aim was as bad at Tails' un-aimed shots, and they all missed. They ran pretty quick, and soon closed the long gap between them by half. By then, though, Tails already reached the top, remembering his propeller tails.

"GET BACK HERE!" The Venomian lead soldier of the two shouted. He was wearing a corporal's jacket, while the other wore a private's one. The corporal was a lizard and the private was a hyena. They both held big automatics. Getting really freaked out, Tails threw himself on his butt and aimed this time, shooting five rounds at the two. One laser got lucky and hit the lizard on the leg, spurting dark red blood all over the rocky and bushy ground. The private lost his wits and ran off, the corporal limping after him, shouting 'coward' and 'traitor'.

Tails sighed in relief and collapsed on the ground, wiping the sweat off of his brow. It wasn't long before he heard the whir of helicopter blades and the shouting of men. Turning around, Tails saw a gray husky captain wearing Cornerian colors (blue and green) with three soldiers behind him.

"Miles Prower?" He yelled, his voice getting lost in the loud noises of planes and soldiers.

"Yeah!" Tails waved his paws in the air.

"You okay?" The dog asked. Tails nodded, showing him his gun. The captain gave him thumbs up.

"Captain William Grey of the Katinian Army Reserve, and boy do we need your help!"

**

"Katinian? How'd you get here, sir?" Tails asked politely, pointing the soldiers to higher grounds in the normally flat plateau and caves in the cliffs.

"Training mission," Captain Grey chuckled, "I just got here on Corneria three hours ago."

"There's an old bunker over west there!" Tails pointed for a lieutenant, then turning to Captain Grey, "Well, that's all the best places for soldiers. Sorry I can't be of more help."

"Jeez, Miles, this is very helpful, despite what you think. My squadron and these fifty foot soldiers fit perfectly into that bunker and those caves," Captain Grey coughed, squinting to see Tails in the darkness of the night, "Darn that helicopter smoke! Hoarder! Close that damn chute and shut off that bright light! Do you want to give our position away?"

"Sorry, sir," another brown dog sheepishly flicked off the helicopter's searchlight. Captain Grey sighed in disgust.

"Well, Miles, my soldiers are getting the people from the forest now. Ah, here they come," Captain Grey nodded at a few flashlights from five soldiers and about sixty civilians, "Get them in that carrier over there, Rhine."

"Yes, sir," a gruff rhino saluted and shoved the people politely but forcefully into a large transporter.

"Well, time to go, Miles," Captain Grey said, gesturing at the carrier. Tails shook his head.

"No, sir. Give me two more pistol clips and let me go back into the forest," Tails looked at the civilians intently, "I need to get my teacher, Mr. Stripe. He's not in that group." Captain Grey nodded at him understandingly and handed Tails two pistol magazines from his own belt.

"Be careful, kid. You're too young to die, but I understand what you want to do," Captain Grey said, handing Tails a big flashlight, "Come back here, Tails, even though the carrier will leave by the time you'll return. Don't go anywhere other than here once you find your friend."

"I know, sir," Tails gulped.

"Scared?"

"Very, sir. One more thing, sir."

"What's that, Miles?"

"Well, make that two. First, tell your dumb lieutenant to shut off that helicopter, then everything would be silent. Second, call me Tails," he smiled.

"Well, then, Tails, call me Bill," Bill grinned back.

**

A/N: Yep, this does have StarFox character in it. Keep on reading, and see how Tails saves Mr. Stripe. Here is where the twist comes in, though it's kinda expected. Oh, yeah, one more thing, Fox doesn't exist in this universe, and that's a hint, dorks!